Cellphone saves Florida store clerk from robber's bullet

Cellphone saves Florida store clerk from robber's bullet

ORLANDO, Florida - A convenience store clerk in Florida can thank his cellphone for stopping a bullet fired at his chest during an attempted robbery, police said on Tuesday.

"He was very lucky," said Lieutenant Scott Allen of the Winter Garden Police Department.

The middle-aged clerk, who police are not identifying for his safety, was shot at by a robber who ordered him and a female clerk to open the safe at a gas station and convenience store near Orlando, Florida, on Monday.

"He (the clerk) was not able to open the safe," Allen said. "The suspect went to leave, he pointed the revolver at one of the clerks and fired a single shot as he was leaving the store."

The clerk's cellphone was in the breast pocket of his baggy shirt.

"When it first happened, he checked himself to see if he was shot. He didn't see anything," Allen said. "Sometime later after the police were on the scene, he mentioned he had a little bit of chest pain. So they started looking into it and realised his cellphone had been shot."

The man did not suffer any injuries, Allen said.

The bullet remained lodged in the phone. Police suspect it came from a .22 or .25 caliber handgun, he said.

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